Ulcus Molle Info

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Ulcus Molle Info

description German cultural magazine
publishing company Literary Information Center Wintjes, Bottrop
First edition 1969
attitude 1990
Frequency of publication bi-monthly
editor Josef Wintjes

The ulcer Molle info was a 1969 to 1990 by Josef "Biby" Wintjes as part of its Literary Information Center published literary magazine .

Inspired by the American beat generation ( Jack Kerouac , Lawrence Ferlinghetti , Allen Ginsberg , Gregory Corso ), Wintjes wrote poetry himself in the past and thus got in touch with the German-language underground literature of the 1960s, which gave him the motivation to found an information and communication magazine, strengthened.

“Ulcus Molle Info” was initially published monthly, from No. 4 / 5-1972 every two months and finally from 1987 quarterly. It saw itself as a public and publication aid for young authors and small publishers. The magazine became an important forum for discussion of the literary, spiritual and political counterculture. The name of the magazine is derived from the venereal disease " Ulcus molle ", also known as "soft chancre".

History of origin

At the end of 1969 Josef Wintjes began selling alternative magazines under the name “ Nonconfirmistic Literary Information Center ” and sending out a DIN A4 letter printed on one side, called “INFO” for short (Info No. 1 of November 10, 1969). The INFO no. 6 (1 April 1970) already contained the words " ulcer Molle ". This, as readers might have guessed, wasn't an April Fool's joke. No. 9 was already called "Ulcus Molle Info" and the title remained until the last issue. With a volume of 16 A4 pages and a sales offer of over fifty publications as well as book announcements and reviews from small and self- publishers, No. 10 appeared in 1970 with a circulation of 2,500 copies; further editions then appeared in the amount of 1,200 and with 200 subscribers. At its peak, “ Ulcus Molle Info ” had 2,500 subscribers. The Ulcus Molle Info Service , together with the Feuerzeichen campaign, was the best-known mail order book and magazine for alternative literature in Germany.

The first contributions (articles, reviews) by freelancers appeared from issue no. 5 - 1971, before Wintjes had presented books and magazines himself in his own short comments. " The fact that he does it completely undogmatic, almost chaotic, may have its disadvantages, but it could also be the right breeding ground for preliminary, experimental and just emerging things that have nowhere else a chance of attracting attention " ( Jürgen Ploog in the Berlin tip , No. 10, 1980)

Even if Wintjes wrote in INFO No. 2 (December 15, 1969): “The nonconfirmistic literary information center is the experiment of an individual ...” , this “experiment” would be without the support of his two wives, who u. a. taking care of the delivery of the magazines was unthinkable. As a specific service he listed: The information center “provides free-of-charge young writers to the editorial collective; Immediately informs about addresses of non-conformist publishers against return postage; tries to control information; organizes national poetry readings; offers: International underground newspapers, posters, political writings, volumes of poetry, new publications ” .

In INFO No. 7 (May 15, 1970), Wintjes also explained himself to his readers with the words: “The information center sees itself as the mouthpiece of the alternative press; maintains contacts with the subcultural underground, with APO groups, literary circles and workshops, with publishers and authors' associations ” .

The final phase

In the mid-1980s, alternative literature became "socially acceptable" and major publishers included outsider literature in their publishing program. Alternative bookstores, book distributors such as Rotation penetrated the public. With the rise of the yuppies and the end of the counter book fair (Frankfurt / M.), Fewer and fewer readers were interested in the Ulcus Molle Info with its subcultural publications in a often confusing layout. So Wintjes had to admit: "In fact, as an editor, I had already lost interest in Ulcus Molle in 1987 (..) because today there is neither an independent alternative press nor any form of underground literature" ( Ulcus Molle Info No. 10/12 1990). The Ulcus Molle Info tried to create a clearer layout by the beginning of 1986 at the latest and tried to adapt to the new trend insofar as Wintjes, in addition to outsider literature, now also reviews the works of established authors from major publishers such as B. Stephen King , Henry Miller and Patrick Süskind integrated into Ulcus Molle Info and also offered these titles to order in his mail order bookstore.

The number of subscribers nonetheless fell from 2,500 to 500. Larger printing debts, private crises and an unsuccessful fundraising campaign in autumn 1989 caused the "Strangler von Bottrop" , as he was called by his friends, to put an end to the information service and, in 1990, to the last Write edition: “The Ulcus Molle information service was discontinued with this double number (No. 10/12) after 21 years. Separation is always difficult - but there are decisions that cannot be postponed (..) that an independent distribution, which was connected with the Ulcus Molle Info, is no longer worthwhile. What our steadily decreasing sales figures prove ” .

Authors, collaborators

Numerous younger authors used the Ulcus Molle Info as the first platform for publications. Quite a few of them were later discovered by large publishers and gained some notoriety, such as B. Elisabeth Alexander , Kristiane Allert-Wybranietz , Uli Becker and Jörg Fauser . Small publishers also benefited from the info and the info center , for example Maro-Verlag, which later established itself with titles by Charles Bukowski (first edition: 500 copies).

literature

  • Britta Arste: Stattbuch 2 . P. 400. Working group WestBerliner Stattbuch 1980. ISBN 3922778003 .
  • Kurt Weichler: Counter pressure: Pleasure and frustration of the alternative press . S. 18. Rowohlt Verlag (Rororo Sachbuch) 1983. ISBN 3499177331

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Cf. on this: Britta Arste: Stattbuch 2. S. 400. Quote: "The most important and probably the longest existing" Neckermann of the underground ". In addition to the book trade, Jose Wintjes publishes the ULCUS MOLLE INFO DIENST every two months ... "
  2. ↑ Brief information in the Ruhr Nachrichten , 1971. Bottrop sales for alternative press . Quote: "Josef Wintjes (fig.), Bottrop writer and small publisher, publishes a directory of various projects in the alternative and underground press under the title" Ulcus Molle ", which contains the titles of books and magazines as well as comics and brochures, most of which cannot be found in bookstores. ”
    Previously online at http://ruhrnachrichten.nahraum.de/tml1_de.0.html?article=5747, the link is no longer available.
  3. ↑ See: Kurt Wichler: Gegenruck .: Lust und Frust der Alternative Presse. P. 18. Quote: “A good 1,600 people have become addicted to Ulcus Molle in the meantime and have the information service sent to them every two months. Wintjes estimates the number of those who regularly order in Bottrop at around 2500. "
  4. ↑ J. Wintjes / J. Gehret (Ed.), Ulcus Molle Info-Dienst. Born 1969-1974 . Reprint , Verlag Azid Presse, Amsterdam 1979. ISBN 90-70215-05-5
  5. ↑ See: J. Wintjes / J. Gehret (Ed.), Ulcus Molle Info-Dienst. Born 1969-1974. No. 10/12, 1990
  6. ↑ For the authors and collaborators listed below, see the anthology J.Wintjes / J.Gehret, Ulcus Molle Info-Dienst, volumes 1969-1974 and other editions after 1974.

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